I just finished watching Julie & Julia. For those who did not see it, it is an inspirational movie about a person dreaming a dream and in the end realizing it. In many ways it reminded me of myself, I dreamt a dream many years ago and set out to realize it, except it did not happen as fast as it does in movies. Ok, I know, in movies they summarize and then briefly and symbolically cram a story that took years and years into a two hour feature. But allow me to be a bit childish and dream, again. The setbacks in film are shorter, and less traumatizing than in real life. The melt downs are brief and not so sour, they do not deeply scar the character facing these adverse situations nor do they show any signs on their faces.
In reality while on the path of realizing our dreams we don’t seem to stop and look at what this path is doing to our psyche, body and even our face. We don’t realize that the damage that we so nicely, and in many cases willingly, accepted while on our path to fulfill our goal is there for life, marring us in more ways than we would like to admit, nor even know about. Once this dawns upon you, you might be one of the smart ones that stops and thinks, is it worth it? Is my dream worth all these losses that are far bigger than any financial loss can be?
And you know what, yes it is. My dream is worth the lines, the bags under the eyes, not to mention the dark color of that “luggage”, it is worth the sleepless nights, the anxieties (which I am praying are temporary) and all luxuries I had to give up while taking my ride on that path, which in most cases was not a first class ride. With age I am also realizing that I might never ever reach the same goal that I initially set out to reach. I now know that it is not “A” goal, rather, they are goals and dreams that evolve over time and change and what we once thought would be a destination becomes only a minor stop on the way to other dreams that we dream up as we go. So now I know that I will never reach that final destination where all my dreams come true, that would be my death bed perhaps. I want to keep dreaming and creating and hoping and looking forward, and praying that the path to my new dreams will not be as bumpy as when I first started this journey.
